BJD Addicts Written Prompts: #1, #5, #15

The BJD Addicts group on DeviantART and YouTube put together a series of prompts for BJD owners to make videos and write posts describing how they find the hobby. It's a great way to build community and help people get to know each other.

I'm a little camera-shy, so I don't expect to be doing video prompts any time soon, but I'll do the written prompts. They can be done in any particular order, so I'm going to do #1, #5 and #15.

BJD Addicts Written Prompt #1 - The Wait

While I wait for a new doll to arrive, I tend to spend a lot of time imagining what they're really going to look like when I see them properly – because unless you've been to a meet-up to see a particular BJD in person, you really only have sales pictures to go from and they can be deceptive some times. Mostly, I try to forget that I've ordered a doll because I know that the wait will be a while and I don't want to be driving myself insane checking the order page constantly, waiting to see when it updates :p I am even worse once I've got the shipping confirmation because I'll be refreshing the tracking as often as I can to see how close my doll is!

I like my dolls to have an outfit of their very own waiting for them when they arrive (this includes shoes), so I'll turn to the usual suspects when I'm looking for BJD clothes; some independent tailors I love to buy from are theHappiestPrincess, Sugardollshop and icantdance, but I also shop from companies like Volks, Dollheart and Dollmore.

I have quite a collection of wigs and eyes now, so usually there'll be something here already for an incoming doll to wear, but for my most recent girl, Deryn, I did buy two pairs of eyes and a few wigs. This was partly because I only had one pair of 18mm eyes, and Mafonwen's very attached to her eyes, but mostly because I wanted Deryn to look very different from the other girls I have here. I do the clothes/wig/eye shopping quite early on in the wait so I can be sure that they'll be here before my doll arrives. I like to dress them in their things first and feel a bit pampered, before they have to start sharing with everyone else!

I've ordered BJDs direct from Volks, Fairyland, Camellia Dynasty and Soom. The fastest arrival was Arthur, my Camellia Dynasty Wong cat, who took 19 days to arrive! It's more usual to expect a BJD between 35-45 days after placing an order. Some companies take longer, some take less time. My Soom order took months because I ordered a Limited Edition Monthly Doll, a Soom Glot, and at that time there were huge backlogs with the company trying to produce and ship Monthly Dolls that had been ordered way before Glot had ever been released. I had a very long time to wait for her, but that made it easier in a way, because that way I could forget about ordering her and the wait wasn't as unbearable as some shorter waits!

BJD Addicts Written Prompt #5 - Dolls in Public

I do feel a bit strange about taking my dolls out in public. I don't know any BJD collectors in my area – the closest person I know lives in Ireland and the others live in London – so I'll always be on my own taking my dolls out with me and I don't know how I would handle the attention. I like to blend into the background and carrying a 60cm doll doesn't really help you do that. I do feel a lot more confident when I'm with other people with their BJDs.

Part of why I would feel strange is that people can be really rude, even when they don't know you. I'm not normally worried about what people think of me, but I do get quite upset when people are rude to my face, or stare. I'm sure that some people could see me photographing dolls and come over with polite questions and be quite interested in the hobby, but I'm not sure whether I'd like that any better. I'm a little shy and get nervous around people I don't know.

BJD Addicts Written Prompt #15 - How Many do You Own?

1 boy, 5 girls and 2 floating heads. By February 2012, this should be 1 boy, 6 girls and 1 floating head, because I'll be ordering Deryn's body in January and Ariadoll don't have much of a waiting period because they keep dolls in stock rather than make to order.

Playing with Dolls

Yesterday, the amazing wigs I ordered months ago from Leekeworld arrived! They were a bit of a naughty buy, but they were definitely worth it when I opened the parcel and put them on Deryn!

Here she is wearing LR-035_E in Real Carrot. This was actually my gamble wig. Her main wig was going to be LR-020_E (a straight wig in the same style as Mafonwen and Momoko's default wigs) in Real Carrot, but I actually like this one on her a lot. This is after a re-style though. The wig arrived in very tight ringlets and didn't look very nice, I wanted the smooth waves from the picture on the website, so I...brushed it.

That wasn't a very good idea. The whole wig was a frizzball and it was far too long for her as well. Deryn looked like she was sitting in an orange cloud. This morning I washed and re-set the wig and I trimmed it to the same length as the LR-020_E wig, so now it sits to her elbows and is the perfect length!

I'm also beginning a career in BJD lingerie. I can never find nice, inexpensive underwear for my dolls, so I've decided to try making some myself. I'm not sure how well this is going to go, but I'm going to try!

For my birthday and Christmas I got some beautiful MSD-sized corsets from Adventure Girl and Carawj, so I've been playing with those as well! They fit Melangell perfectly! The above picture isn't perfect, but I was running out of natural light and started playing with flash/shadow! I will get better shots of her soon!

Merry Christmas!

I've had a wonderful December so far! On my birthday I spent the day with B, we opened presents in the early afternoon and then we went to The Raj for a curry in the evening!

I had to work Christmas Eve, but I met up with B after I finished and we went to Conwy for a Christmas Eve drink with B's friends and to watch the fireworks. As the buses finish early on Christmas Eve I had to go home before everyone else, but I got to give B a Christmas kiss before I left :)

Christmas morning I woke up before everyone else, which was a bit odd because I'm one of the least Christmassy people I know! I didn't wake up because I was excited, it was because I wasn't particularly sleepy :p I did my hair in an elegant looking bun ready for Downton Abbey later in the day - I even added lace and pearl hair ornaments :D

Presents
Birthday:
Parents -  'J' Pandora charm
Brother - Mr Men dvd (?!)
B - 'Last Chance to See' by Douglas Adams and a yellow tooled leather satchel
Grandparents - money
Holly - Topshop kokeshi doll face teacup
Becky - Art nouveau brooch and cherries locket
Adventure Girl & Carawj – Raouken MSD corset
Pam - puppy plushie
Heather - dissolving rubber duck bathbombs
Row, Mike and MP - Boots No.7 eyeshadows

Christmas:
Parents - 3 tops, kokeshi doll lipgloss, Millie Pembleton kite necklace, Topshop squirrel charm, 2012 diary
Brother - leatherbound journal
B - Japanese tea set and artisan teas (I can pretend I'm DeWitt making people offers now :p), Ghost Deep Night perfume
B's dad – Harajuku Lovers G of the Sea perfume
Grandparents - make-up bag, hairband, Charlie bodyspray, make-up, money
Holly - Fearne Cotton eyeshadow shimmer dust
Becky - Impulse bodysprays and Body Shop shea butter scrub (smells delicious!)
Yvonne – Pearl charm bracelet
Adventure Girl & Carawj – Raoken MSD corset
Pam - notebooks
Heather - butter cookie mix and star cutter, make-up bag
Ruth - Accessorize hair ornaments; red ribbon clips and pearl hairpins
Row, Mike and MP - pampering set; body scrubs, sprays, shower gels and exfoliating mitts


I've had some lovely presents! Thank you to everyone for their pressies and I hope that you like the things I've got for you :)

Meet Morideryn

This is the first embodied, clothed, bewigged and eyed picture of my Volks School B, Morideryn! She's back from her visit with Caroline, dodging snow and storms on the way, and she looks gorgeous with her new face-up!

 

I've put her on a Dollfie Dream II body for now because the SD10 body she was going to share with Mafonwen was a bit too chunky for her slimmer face and smaller features. It's definitely convinced me that she needs an Ariadoll 14 Years Elegance body, I don't mind resin/vinyl hybrids in the short term, but I prefer all resin or all vinyl dolls to hybrids of the two. I don't really like the difference in texture between the resin and vinyl. Plus Momoko, my Dollfie Dream, is going to want her body back.

 

Morideryn's eyes were a big surprise too - I bought her some expensive Hand Glass Craft eyes in turquoise and when I tried them they didn't look right. These cheaper unbranded sparkly glass eyes actually suit her much better! It's making me a little bit nervous about her incoming red wigs - this baby brown wig suits her so well that I don't know whether a vibrant red will suit her :s Nervous!

Volks School B!

Caroline of Viridian House has finished the face up on my School B!

I won't get her back until Tuesday at the earliest, but I'm so excited and I can't wait. This is what she looks like right now (picture by C.Seales of Viridian House)

She looks amazing! I think she's going to make a really pretty redhead when her Leeke wigs come in and I definitely have to commit myself to buying her her own body in January because she definitely needs one of her own, I don't want her to have to share!

I can't wait for her official unveiling once she comes home!